


In the Shadows of the Stars

by raendown



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:15:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22436266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raendown/pseuds/raendown
Summary: Late at night when he should be sleeping Tobirama worries.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Comments: 21
Kudos: 260





	In the Shadows of the Stars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Officer_Jennie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Officer_Jennie/gifts).



> Happy birthday Jennie!

Watching the stars wasn’t typically the sort of activity Tobirama spent much of his time on, not when he could be doing something more productive. Tonight was a special case. He’d already been out here for an hour, trying to calm his mind by counting stars, but not even when he tried to make math games out of it could such a mundane activity hold all of his interest. Some parts of his brain were still running out of control.

“You should be asleep.” Madara's voice came only moments before a warm body folded gracefully down at his side, uncaring for the cold dew soaking in to their clothing.

“So should you.”

“I was asleep, thank you very much, until I rolled over trying to steal your warmth and almost rolled right out of the bed.” His partner glared at him without any real heat.

Tobirama lifted one arm to let the other man duck underneath and pulled their bodies together. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, let me keep you warm now. There’s not much to fall off of out here.”

“What are you doing sitting in the middle of the yard anyway?” Madara asked.

“I was…worrying.” At a look of confusion he sighed. “Tomorrow’s the big day. I know that none of them are actually my children but I feel like I raised those kids. Now they’re going through the jōnin exams and I feel…nervous? Is that strange?”

Under his arm Madara hummed a low note. “Not really. In a way you did help to raise them all; almost as much as their parents did. All of them love you very much.”

“Can they do this? No, what the am I saying, of course they can. They can do this. All of them are strong.”

“Indeed they are. You taught them well.”

“Perhaps I should have taught them more, though. There always seems to be so much that I could have given them, another trick or another jutsu, another piece of advice.” Tobirama stopped when he heard himself and dragged his free hand down his face. “I feel like a mother hen.”

“You sound like one too,” Madara laughed.

Since pushing the man away would have deprived him of a nice warm personal heater Tobirama opted for getting his revenge by squeezing the arm he had around Madara until his partner squealed for him to stop. Nothing like a little lung crushing to stop the teasing. Or in the case of his brother to express joy.

Tilting his head back, Tobirama looked up at the sky to pick out imaginary shapes between the stars. He traced the outline of Homura’s glasses and imagined the curls in Kagami’s hair. So little they had all been when they came to him, like duckling waiting for a direction to follow. Now they were battle-worn shinobi who had earned their own honor time and time again. Just thinking about it was enough to make him swell with pride and Tobirama wondered if perhaps this was why Hashirama used to cry when he watched their training sessions.

Not for the village unity he had always dreamed of but for the brother who had flourished and grown bonds the way Tobirama simply hadn’t been able to when he was a child himself. It took until adulthood, until Konoha, for the massive personalities around him to bully their way in to his heart.

“Listen carefully,” he murmured, “for I may never say this again. But...thank you. Thank you for everything you have given me. For dumping one of your clan children in my lap and declaring that you trusted me enough to train him. And for screaming in my face until I had nothing left to shut you up with but a kiss. I owe a lot of my happinesses to you and I would not trade them for anything.”

“Oh sweet chakra he’s getting mushy. Call a medic! Mark this on the calendar!”

This time Tobirama was prepared to sacrifice the warmth he was leeching, pushing his husband away and holding him down to squirm in the dew wet grass. “See if I ever show you my appreciation for anything ever again!”

“Your appreciation was very sweet!” Madara snickered. He didn’t look too upset that their cuddles had turned in to a wrestling match.

For several more minutes they struggled against each other, rolling over and over until both of them were laughing, collapsing in a heap with Madara's head tucked once more underneath Tobirama’s chin. If not for the mass of black hair tangled everywhere they would have both had nothing but the night above them to look at.

“That was on purpose, wasn’t it?” Tobirama asked after a long bout of silence.

“What’s that?”

“You were pushing my buttons on purpose so I would quit thinking about it.”

Madara scoffed. “Oh come on, would I do something as thoughtful and kind as that?”

Wrapping both arms around him, Tobirama pressed a kiss to his husband’s hair. He already felt so much lighter for having the anxious mood broken. If they went back inside now he might actually be able to get some sleep.

“No,” he murmured. “That doesn’t sound like you at all.”

Instead he relaxed in to the grass. A few more minutes just like this wouldn’t hurt anything.


End file.
